Streaming tailored television and control system for same

Abstract

A video viewing system wherein a personally tailored and sequenced set of video clips is provided from a sequence server to a client device coupled to a television/video screen. A remote control of the client device incorporates a touchpad and normal playback inputs received thereon are also used by the sequence server to alter selection and sequencing of future programming for the user, such that the user need not navigate menus to choose content, as the system intuits the user's content preferences from his viewing habits.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for providing a continuous uninterrupted stream of video from content servers to a remotely located user, comprising:
 a sequence server configured to communicate with a remotely located user television computing device of the remotely located user, the sequence server configured to:
 generate a first user specific sequence of streaming videos tailored to the user, the first user specific sequence comprising playback information for x videos, wherein x is greater than 3 but less than 30; 
 transmit a first subset of the first user specific sequence of streaming videos to the remotely located user television computing device, the subset comprising playback information for y of the x videos and causing the application to place at least z seconds of rendered content into a buffer of a random access memory of the television computing device for each of the subset of y of the x videos, wherein y is not less than 3 and z is not less than 10; and 
 upon a determination based at least in part upon playback of the first subset, generate a second user specific sequence of streaming videos tailored to the user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sequence server is configured to generate the first user specific sequence of streaming videos by learning what videos the user enjoys by monitoring user viewing habits. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the sequence server is configured to generate the first user specific sequence with an indication of a skip command generated at a remote control of the remotely located user television computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein usage of the skip command according to a first value of a measured criterion is indicative of a dislike of the video being played when the command is issued. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein usage of the skip command according to a second value of the measured criterion is not indicative of a dislike of the video being played but rather of a neutrality in regard to the video. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein usage of the skip command according to a third value of the measured criterion is not indicative of a dislike or neutrality in regard to the video being played but rather of a liking of the video. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the sequence server is configured to generate the first user specific sequence with a received indication of a skip command generated at a remote control of the remotely located user television computing device, the skip command generated in response to detecting a swipe at a touchpad of the remote control. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the television computing device is configured to interpret a swipe from right to left on the touchpad of the remote control as a forward skip command. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the television computing device is configured to interpret a swipe from left to right on the touchpad of the remote control as a reverse skip command. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the television computing device is configured to interpret a swipe from right to left on the touchpad of the remote control as a reverse skip command. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the television computing device is configured to interpret a swipe from left to right on the touchpad of the remote control as a forward skip command. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the sequence server is further configured to generate the first and second user specific sequences such that the second user specific sequence of streaming videos tailored to the user excludes all viewed members of the first user specific sequence. 
     
     
         13 . A method for providing a continuous stream of video clips to a client television computing device, the method comprising:
 creating, at a server, a session with the client television computing device;   issuing a fill request;   maintaining a clips database within a mass storage memory of a server;   preparing personalized media and sending it in response to the fill request;   responding to the fill request by finding and scoring a plurality of clips in the clips database, wherein the server applies 1 . . . N scoring strategies to create a first group of clips from the plurality of clips, wherein at least one clip of the first group of clips is chosen based upon a score generated based upon a skip command received during playback of a previously viewed clip;   responding to a request from the client television computing device for at least one additional clip; and   providing, to the television computing device, a set of sequence instructions, including indications representing at least a portion of the first group of clips that was created.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising applying 1 . . . N filters to filter the first group of clips into a subset of the first group of clips, wherein a portion of the first group of clips provided to the television computing device further includes at least one clip from the filtered subset of the first group of clips. 
     
     
         15 . A video provisioning computer server system in communication with a client video viewing device, the video provisioning computer server system comprising:
 a microprocessor;   mass storage memory coupled to the microprocessor;   random access memory coupled to the microprocessor;   a clip buffer within the random access memory;   a clips database within the mass storage memory;   a context engine that is configured to:
 create a session with the client video viewing device; 
 send personalized media to the client video viewing device; 
 receive user viewing and interaction data from the client video viewing device; 
 track and maintain user geolocation information of the video viewing device; 
 issue a fill request to a filler; and 
   a filler configured to:
 respond to the fill request from the context engine and in response find and score clips, wherein the filler applies a plurality of 1 . . . N scoring strategies to create a first group of clips from the clips database and wherein the user viewing and interaction data and the geolocation data are used as factors by the 1 . . . N scoring strategies; 
 send user specific sequencing instructions for a first group of sequenced clips or a subset thereof to the clip buffer within the RAM memory of the video provisioning system. 
   
     
     
         16 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the filler is further configured to apply a plurality of 1 . . . N filters to filter the first group of clips into a subset of the first group of clips. 
     
     
         17 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 16 , wherein the filler is further configured to send the filtered subset of the first group of clips to the clip buffer within the RAM memory of the video provisioning system. 
     
     
         18 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 16 , wherein the filler is further configured to utilize the geolocation information as a factor in finding and scoring clips. 
     
     
         19 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 15 , wherein the context engine is further configured to track and maintain the time, date, and day of the week of user viewing sessions on the video viewing device, and the filler in conjunction with the context engine is further configured to generate and send user specific sequencing instructions for at least one group of sequenced clips for a user specific to a time and day of the week of user viewing. 
     
     
         20 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 15 , wherein either of the filler or context engine is further configured to utilize a time to skip measurement made during viewing of a first clip to reduce a weighting of an attribute associated with a second not yet viewed clip used for clip selection from a group of clips that contain the second not yet viewed clip, said skip generated in response to sensing a linear swipe on a touchpad. 
     
     
         21 . The video provisioning computer system of  claim 15 , wherein either of the filler or context engine is further configured to utilize a time to skip measurement made during viewing of a first clip to increase a weighting of an attribute associated with a second not yet viewed clip used for clip selection from a group of clips that contain the second not yet viewed clip, said skip generated in response to sensing a linear swipe on a touchpad.